Decided by a unanimous vote from the present school board, beginning the week of Oct. 14, students of the Lake Central School Corporation will be released 90 minutes early every Wednesday. This change is being put in place to allow teachers additional time to plan and prepare lessons for both online and in-person students. 

   “We don’t take cutting out instructional time lightly. In most cases, we wouldn’t do it, but we just recognize we’ve got a lot of [teachers] that are struggling a lot and so in the short term at least, we’d give them some time to work with their peers,” Dr. Larry Veracco, superintendent, said. 

   Teachers will be able to use this time to learn to use the new forms of technology that are needed in the classroom as well as transferring lessons online. The extra 90 minutes is hoped to allow pressure to be relieved.

   “I think that they are applying a lot of pressure to themselves and it can make the job a lot tougher than it maybe has to be but we really just want to try to take the pressure off and we figure the middle of the week is a good time to do that. [The teachers] can fill that gap with whatever they need the most,” Veracco said. 

   The concerns regarding parents being unable to watch their children will be taken care of through the adventure club. Bus services will also remain available. 

   “We’re going to look at bringing the adventure club in a little earlier for the elementary kids to see what the demand is but we should be able to satisfy some of the demand with the adventure club,” Veracco said.

   This time is intended to better the student’s education and the mental health of teachers. Teachers will have more time to do whatever is needed in order to adapt to school during COVID-19 and create the best learning environment possible for students.